Inspired by her son's battle

Thursday

Jan 10, 2013 at 10:38 AM

By JOHN TESSIER

By JOHN TESSIER

Special Writer

There are many distressing illnesses that can stop a family in its tracks, but few are as difficult to diagnose as Lyme disease. Plymouth resident Jamie Bierut knows firsthand how this disease can bring a family to its knees. She has written a book entitled "Under the Rainbow Moon" as well as an album entitled "He's My Son" about her experiences with her son Joshua's battle with Lyme disease. The book and album deal with the trials and tribulations her family went through with Joshua growing up with this disease.

Ms. Bierut explained that Joshua contracted Lyme disease while on a camping trip when he was about a year old. The problem is that he was not diagnosed with Lyme disease until much later, after serious damage had occurred. Doctors struggled to find a reason behind Joshua's illness. In the meantime Joshua was misdiagnosed with autism, ADD, and even bipolar disorder. These misdiagnoses led to high doses of unnecessary medication, countless trips to the hospital, and even psychiatric hospitalizations.

"Joshua was a very happy and healthy infant. By the time he turned about one year old his disposition had changed and he was very irritable, inconsolable, and just wasn't happy. Pretty soon thereafter he started having medical problems as well. We knew something was wrong," Ms. Bierut said.

By the time Joshua was five, the Bierut family had moved from Indiana to Pennsylvania and Joshua's symptoms had gotten much worse. He was admitted into a psychiatric hospital at that time, which was heartbreaking for Ms. Bierut and her family. Joshua had other random hospitalizations as well, but there was still no medical explanation for what was happening to him. The family moved to Plymouth in 2006, where Joshua continued to be hospitalized. It was at the Franciscan Hospital for Children in Brighton that they met Dr. Stromberg, who unlocked the mystery of Joshua's illness.

"Dr. Stromberg, who was Joshua's psychiatrist at the Franciscan Hospital for Children, started to think outside the box and we decided to run some other tests. In doing so, we found out that Joshua had undiagnosed Lyme disease. We were able to trace that back to when he was twelve months old in Indiana and we would be camping, and he would be crawling and learning to walk through the woods," Ms. Bierut said.

Due to the fact that Joshua had had Lyme disease for years without the proper treatment, it created neuro-psychiatric problems for him. Ms. Bierut started looking for doctors that could help her son now that he was properly diagnosed. According to Ms. Bierut, some doctors told her that there was nothing that they could do for Josh, that his disease had been left untreated for too many years and the damage had been done. Ms. Bierut did not accept that, and found a doctor in New Haven, Connecticut who was experimenting with long-term antibiotic treatments for chronic Lyme disease. That doctor is Dr. Charles Ray Jones, considered by many to be one of the world's top pediatric Lyme specialists. His method of treatment is very controversial as many in the medical community feel that long term use of antibiotics is ineffective and can harm the patient taking them.

"We chose to go that route and in the process Joshua has had so much healing and growth. He is just a different child. Dr. Jones said that he wanted to find the key to unlock Joshua's brain and he really did," Ms. Bierut said.

According to Ms. Bierut, Joshua has been on antibiotics for about three years and the results are unbelievable. Since starting his treatment Joshua has become more sociable and has seen his reading fluency increase. The treatment also lifted the mental fog and relieved his pain that had plagued Joshua for so long. Joshua is now in the sixth grade and has received the student of the month award and also made the honor roll.

"This treatment has given Josh his life back," Ms. Bierut said.

To illustrate how this treatment has helped her son, Ms. Bierut said that Joshua had to stop taking the antibiotics for a short time in order to undergo surgery. The very same week Joshua's reading ability dropped significantly and Joshua had reverted back to his past social woes. The changes were so swift and startling that Joshua's teachers called Ms. Bierut to say something was wrong with Joshua and explained his recent regression to her. They were not aware that Joshua had temporarily stopped his treatments.

Ms. Bierut has two upcoming events in Middleboro to speak about her book and her family's ordeal as well as perform songs from her album, "He's My Son." The first is a free performance on Jan. 25 from 6-9 p.m. at Coffee Milano located at 58 Centre St. The second is a "He's My Son" conference being held on Feb. 2nd at the United Methodist Church located at 14 School St. This conference is $20 per person and is an all-day event. Ms. Bierut will speak about her experiences, as well as discuss the importance of caretakers being sure to make time for themselves, among other topics. For more information and to purchase tickets, contact the United Methodist Church at 508-947-2612.

For those who cannot attend either event but would like more information on Ms. Bierut's book and/or album, visit www.jamiebierut.com. Books and CDs can be purchased on her website as well as on www.amazon.com and www.tatepublishing.com